


Freedom of Choice

by scribensdracones



Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Closure, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-11 22:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17455553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribensdracones/pseuds/scribensdracones
Summary: Shortly after his disappearance, Frankenstein sends an envelope containing Union Data regarding M-21, Tao and Takeo. So close to fulfilling his dream of reclaiming his identity, M-21 finds himself struggling with the idea that the truth is in his hands now.





	Freedom of Choice

**Author's Note:**

> So... while I personally do not believe that M-21's name is recorded anywhere, given how the Union operates... there is still something about this that I like a lot. A little take on what might feel right. I am sorry if someone else did this before. Also, stick around to the end for a funnier alternate ending!

What usually felt like peace in this chaotic house felt like unease now. Three modified humans and a noble were left, everyone else had gone. The nobles had returned to Lukedonia, at last, no way of telling how long for. And Frankenstein, the master of this house? It seemed not even Raizel knew where he was – though they suspected that he rather chose not to disclose his knowledge, courteous towards Frankenstein's apparent wish to disappear off the radar. One would think that now he could lean back and enjoy the quiet life he built for them. Had they not fought enough to make this dream come true? A whole month without anyone trying to assault them. No mutants, modified humans, elders, werewolves or murderous nobles barging in, trying to claim superiority with violence.

Why was he not here to enjoy it with them? M-21 could not wrap his mind around it, no matter how hard he tried. Of course, he had no doubt that someone like Frankenstein would not resort to complete disappearance without good reasons – yet a selfish part of him wanted to  _know_ . After all they have lived through together, should they not get to enjoy time together as …  _a family?_ That's what Ser Raizel had called them. It must mean at least  _something_ .   
M-21's brooding was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching him. Tao, followed by Takeo. The thick envelope in Tao's hands was the first thing M-21 noticed. The envelope was tossed lightly and landed on the glass coffee table with a heavy  _thud_ . He would recognize the neat, fine handwriting anywhere. 

_To M-21, Tao, and Takeo.  
We are the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls._

The quote that met them each morning when they arrived at Ye Ran High. Heavy silence settled between the three of them and neither dared to speak up first. Of course, they burned to see what was inside. Finally, after a solid minute of silence, Tao reached out for the envelope and opened it. Papers. Stacks of papers. “Union files...?” They were clipped together based on topic and subject, apparently. Background information on the DA-5 and the experiments that have been performed on them.   
“M-21... there is... a whole load about the M-series...” M-21's hand trembled slightly as he took the stack of papers that were pertinent to him. As Tao and Takeo hypothesized why Frankenstein might have chosen to print out the electronic files, M-21 stared at the documents in his hands. All his questions... Not only his name must be contained in these papers, but also the names of all those who did not make it. M-24... Until the end, the dream of finding their identities had driven them. A dream.. not a new life, but to know of the old one. His throat felt dry. Why did he not open those folders? Why did he not learn all there was to know about what happened back then in those laboratories? At last... if at least one of them managed to live and reconquer themselves... then maybe it was not all in vain. Nothing would bring back the dead, nothing would give them comfort... but would it not mean at least something? He was the last of a hundred. Did he not have a duty towards them?

“... I assume maybe he did not want me to trace the origin of these papers... But why... M-21? Hey, are you okay?”  
“... I … need time to think.” His hands would not obey him and he did not want to rush this moment that was supposed to mean... a lot. Everything? No. When the nobles stopped the rockets... and thus destroyed the last of the Union... that's the moment that meant everything. Now they were free of the Union's ever-present looming shadow. It was over. Almost.  
Takeo's lips were pressed into a thin line and he stopped Tao from speaking up by gently placing his hand against his arm.   
“But don't you want to open it?”, Tao asked regardless of Takeo's attempted intervention.. Maybe he hoped to avoid his own truths by prying about the others' first. M-21 could not bear him ill will for that.  
“Not now. I've waited for so long... ” Waiting for just a little bit longer... when the moment felt right...  
"We respect that, M-21," Takeo said softly before Tao could press the matter any further - and it seemed as if his words did not fall on deaf ears this time. Though he did not mean to be unsociable, he still got up from the couch and placed the documents back on the table. “I am going for a walk. Some fresh air.” He would like to be alone – and just as Takeo had assured him, his friends respected his need for some privacy. Room to breathe and clear his mind. 

A clear, cold evening. In Seoul, the sky was never truly dark – it made him wish to leave the city behind and go somewhere wide, open and quiet. Somewhere where he could see the stars and breathe freely. However, right now, the metropolis would have to make do. Just wander the streets that were being rebuilt after all the destruction. Was that what being human was all about? Get up no matter how many times you were beaten down? Was he one of them, too? He sure was not a werewolf, or at least he did not feel like one – but with this heart in his chest, could he still call himself human in all earnest?

His wandering took him to the fringes of the city, where things got quieter. The sun would rise soon, the horizon started to brighten up in the east. A part of him wanted to just keep going towards the rising sun, keep going until he crossed the world once, twice, thrice, never without stop. Of course he would not do that. Nothing in this world could force him to give up on this new life.   
The sun had just risen when M-21 sat on a bench in a small park. People were getting up, some of them leaving their houses already to make it in time for work in the city. He knew that Takeo would cover up for him – with the Union defeated, the school no longer needed heavy guarding at all times.

For a while, M-21 merely sat on the bench, quiet, feeling like he could not go back home without having made up his mind. What was the question, though? He should not hesitate about something he and his old friend had dreamed about.   
“You are in turmoil.” Raizel's voice was soft – and he still started the modified human. Quiet as a ghost he'd come. Without making a single sound, he sat on the other end of the bench, hands folded in his lap.   
“Frankenstein sent us an envelope with documents he must have got from the Union.”   
Though the Noblesse gave no reaction, M-21 knew he was listening. Could he...? _Should_ he, though? With all that happened... Raizel must have enough worries of his own. Yet at the sime time, he felt like there was no one else he would rather confide in. Rai, who has been by his side from the beginning.   
“I thought I wanted nothing more than to find my name. Mine and the names of the others that have been experimented on. Now I have those documents and... a name should not scare me. But it does. The shadow of a name, even.” A heavy sigh. Was he being pathetic again? Overly emotional and negative over a thing that should bring him joy? “I know I should go and read it. If not for my own sake, then for _theirs_. At least one made it out alive to remember them.”  
Heavy silence lingered between them – and just as M-21 was about to give up hope on receiving an answer, Raizel finally spoke up, even-toned as always.  
“Your life does not put you in any debt.”

Minutes passed without any other word and M-21 was not sure what to make of it. Was this all the Noblesse had so say? This was his wisdom: he rarely spoke, and when he did, each word held purpose and meaning. He should have expected a single sentence of compressed wisdom instead of a sea of meaningless words. He mulled over it in silence. Mothers pushing strollers and elderly people walking their dogs passed them, glancing at them with great curiosity, but none dared bursting the bubble of quiet pondering around them.

“I want Ramyeon,” Raizel declared, rising from his position. He would go home now, clearly. “When the time is right, come home,” he added, turning his gaze towards M-21 and he could swear he saw genuine fondness in his eyes. _Come home_.

And so he came home. In the late afternoon, M-21 returned home. Raizel sat on the couch as he usually did, and, to his surprise, Tao and Takeo both had sat down with him as well. Four cups of tea stood on the coffee table, along with the documents. Given how they were arranged... They must have had a look, probably. It did not matter. M-21 had made up his mind at last.   
“Rai said you would be here soon so... we made some tea for you too.” Tao smiled awkwardly, worry briefly flashed over his face before he managed to restore his cheery facade again. Takeo observed him carefully as he approached the group and grabbed the file pertaining to him and the others of the M-Series.   
“Just one moment...” They had gone through so much... They had fought, laughed, despaired, hoped. They had grown, made memories they would never forget... And, more importantly, their journey was not over yet. Though one chapter of their lives might have ended... another one was about to begin. Hopefully a brighter one.

With the files in his hands, he approached the fireplace – and without hesitation or regret, he tossed the papers in the cackling flames. Tao gasped in the background.

“The past has no hold on me. Whoever I was, now I am free. I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> BONUS: alternate ending.
> 
> ith the files in his hands, he approached the fireplace – and without hesitation or regret, he tossed the papers in the cackling flames. Tao gasped in the background. "Call me Wolfie McWolfface, for all I care. The past does not define me."  
> He returned to the table and sat down, reaching for his cup of tea. Raizel smiled softly in quiet approval. Tao blinked. "So... Wolfie... you gonna steal that one boat? Wolfie McWolfFace is going to werewolf island on Boaty McBoatFace?"   
> Takeo snorted, suppressing a laugh. M-21 grinned and took a sip. Ah. Hot.   
> "You will never let me forget I said that, will you?"  
> Tao grinned. "Never, Sir Wolfie McWolfFace. Never." 
> 
>  
> 
> Author's note: Yes. Of course Tao scanned the documents while M-21 was gone. He now has a digital copy. In case Wolfie McWolfFace changes his mind.


End file.
